I just wanted to illicit a few opinions on the SYLK line made by Cortland. I recently bought a DT5F to use on a new cane rod I bought. I guess I figured I'd like it because of some of the positive reviews I've read, but I don't like it at all.
The hype was it handled like a real silk line and was a smaller diameter than a regular line of the same size. The small diameter thing can be a plus but maybe more important for some of my really old cane rods that have smaller guides. It does handle OK and is supple enough but the coating to me seems to be a bit sticky and too soft and hangs up slightly in my guides. It also squeaks when it works through my agate stripper; a minor annoyance but not something I ever heard before with the Rio lines I normally use. The other night while using it and into a nice 16? brown; as the fish was pulling line from my fingers it was not slipping through nice and smooth like I am used to. It was sort of stuttering as it slipped through; not real reassuring when your fishing 7X.
But my biggest complaint is it doesn?t float worth a damn. I clean my fly lines after each use and treat them with a super thin coating of Poo Goo which is pure silicone. My Rio lines respond excellently to this ritual and float like a cork; this SYLK line floats for awhile then sections of it start to sink. I feel like I?m REALLY fishing a silk line. It sort of reminds me of the old Orvis intermediate lines I use to fish years ago. I also tried the Cortland cleaning pad and it made no difference in my impressions.
I have only used this line 3 times so far but I wanted to hear what other SYLK line users thought. Should I give it another shot or just give up. I did order another DT5F Rio Classic just in case. While I realize line preference is a subjective thing; I wanted to hear some opinions on the floating characteristics and coating. Any input would be appreciated.